Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-08-26

squire Dacre come here, there was g.
| power Of queer things seen and heard
at Waterdeil; and they say that since
he's dead they be come back. rs
They say; who say?''. asked q thin
weasel faced farmer. u . fs.
well my man Marvel for one; he
went across by the spinney lastnieht,
whore heshas been almost every even
ing these thirty year, and he swears
that he saw some one walking up and
down the long path, and heard some
awful noises" -
"Ah!" said the thin man, with
grunt, Marvel always were liar"
Liar, or no liar," said thefat farm
er rather angrily, "my father saw
the ghost himself sixty yearsago; Oft
en;and often he has told me of it; and
believe the old Squire knew OF it too,
for he never laughed or scoffed as
some fools do with significant sniff
when folk talked of ghosts"
And so the talk drifted on to other
matters, and Mr.. Jenifer was lett to
contemplate another element of alb
surdity introduced into his we'll ar
ranged commonplace existence, and
felt quite angry at the thought that
he OF all men should, by the irony of
late, be brought into d ghost story.
But as he never had believed in ghosts
he did not mean to begin now; and
after lnquiring mis- way to Waterdell
Hall he found that he must start at
once if he wished to reach there before
nlghtfall. 1t was q somewhat dull
walk which led him at last along
narrow road ending in an abrupt de
scent. The high hedges on either side
had lost their summer beauty with
out yet gaining the glory Of Autumn;
the few roseberries were sickly look.
ing and withered and frosted with
whitish blight, and their leaves hung
shlvering on the, twigs, while in the
fields beyond the evening mists were
already rising. The road turned
sharply to the right, and then Water.
dell Hall lay before it's future owner.
10 a cheerful eye it might have
seemed Nesting in a bower of green
cry; but Jenifer, out of tune with
things in general and tired with his
walk, saw in its withdrawal from the
high road a guilty seclusion from OBJ
servation. Four tall Welingtonias
rose dark and solemn above the little
wicket gate and cast gloom over the
garden path, in which some late ger.
anlums and petunias only served bv
their touches of brilliant color to &C.
centuate the general melancholy. The
house itself instead OF boldly looking
:orth on the passers by, turned its
face away from the road, and had no
prospect but the little bit of garden
and the four sentinel trees.
The door stood open, and MI. Jeni-
Ter entered g. narrow passage where
no welcoming footsteps came to meet
his own; only a Virginian creeper
torn by the wind tapped on the porch;
otherwise all was still Mr.. jenifer
looked round him for moment, and
then went through the silent house to
the chief sitting room. It was neither
large nor high, but it had that indi.
vidual charm which only age and
years OF occupancy can give.
The old-fashioned mantle reached,
with its dark rich cary
ings, to the ceiling, across which was
massive oaken beam, nearly black
with age, the fireplace, with it's glaring
logs, gave out a. cheerful glimmer, re-
Elected In the small quarries of the
window opposite, over which hung a
carved scroll, whose inscription there
was not light enough to read. Mr..
Jenlter breathed a sigh of relief at the
comfortable appearance here, in con-
trast to the depressing aspect of the
rest OF the house; but instead of set
thing himself las he felt tempted to do)
by the the fire, he again went out to
look over the surrounding property.
Behind, the ground rose abruptly, and
was bounded by a closely growing cop
plce, through which a narrow path
seemed to strike inthe directiono Of the
village. The parson climbed the hill,
leaving the coppice on his left, and
standing on the highest portion of the
meadow, looked across the low hedge
ut the last pageant of the sunset.
Some elm trees were silhouetted
against the sky, athwart which lay
bars of rosy fame, tender and evane-
scent. One moment the dying light |
leaped up brighter and sthrobbed |
through all the burning heaven, and
then suddenly it died away, and the
day was not. ,>.-,.4>
Jenifcr turned and looked at the
hall. Alreadyait seemed to be losing
itself in the darkness which gathered !
round il, hiding in the recesses of The |
gables. drawing curtains OF mist over |
the twisted chimneys. The silence, en-
tire and absolute. struck almost with |
oppression on the mind OF this man
toned to city noises; but even
AZ he thought to, himself, elbow still
it ali Isl" there sounded in the coppice |
close behind him a long, sobbing,
cry, which rose and fell, and
rose again, and then ceased.
Clement Jenifer was nota particu-
larly tender-hear or compassion
ate man. but that sudden cry filled |
him with avague fear OF some cruel |
deed Just perpetrated-some awful
t0 be brought to light; and |
after moments hesitation he turned
IN the direction whence it had seemed
to come, and found himself. on q long
path, with g thick yew hedge on eth /
er side. Far ahead, in the dim twi-
light. he could descry a figure walking
slowly away from him; he could hear
O moaning sound, as of some one in
pain, Mr.. Jenifer FASTENED his pace
in order to come up with the sufferer,
and as he gained on hun and |
could see him more distinctly it |
seemed to him that there was some
thing familiar in theigait and bearing
OF the Unknown. And as he thought |
so the figure turned, and, facing him,
advanced with slow, uncertain foot
steps, wringlnq his hands as he came. |
What was it thatssstruck Mr., Jenifer
as so we'll known to him? What was
it that filled him with: q sudden. hor-
ror, and sent the blood back to his |
heart? All the tales Of ghosts and
haunting noises at which he had |